Page:The Lay of the Last Minstrel - Scott (1805).djvu/201

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192

Then mass was sung, and prayers were said,
And solemn requiem for the dead;
And bells tolled out their mighty peal,
For the departed spirit's weal;
And ever in the office close
The hymn of intercession rose;
And far the echoing aisles prolong
The awful burthen of the song,
   Dies Iræ Dies Illa,
   Solvet Sæclum in Favilla,
While the pealing organ rung;
Were it meet with sacred strain
To close my lay so light and vain,
Thus the holy fathers sung.

XXXII.
Hymn for the Dead.
That day of wrath, that dreadful day,
When heaven and earth shall pass away,
What power shall be the sinner's stay?
How shall he meet that dreadful day?